What is your equestrian sport (dressage, barrel racing, h/j? Other?), and what do you do for fitness? For example, how much riding do you do and what other workouts do you include? Pilates, cardio, weightlifting, or nothing but miles in the saddle?
It's going to be hard to pick a best answer, because they're all great, and I was hoping for a good variety of answers like this :)
Anonymous
Favorite Answer
I'll ride 3-4 times a week (dressage, jumpers, some trail riding, and the occasional cross country day) as that's what my schedule allows. I've gotten into (road) cycling this year and really love it! It uses a lot of the same muscles as riding, is low impact, and great fun! I'm actually hoping to be racing next year :)
Anonymous
I event. This is dressage, stadium jumping, and cross-country.
In Canada I am currently eventing in Preliminary, which is the second to last highest level.
To stay in shape I ride and do barn work!
Nothing builds up the arms better than mucking-out at 7:00 in the morning for 3 hours everyday, and then riding 4 green horses for my coach, then riding all 6 of my horses/ponies. It's hard work, but after doing it everyday, I'm definitely more fit.
Also as a competitor, it's very important I stay flexible... I take Yoga classes once a week. They are AMAZING - I learn new techniques that help me stay focused, AND relaxed in a tough situation in the saddle.
Also I do some biking on forest trails to build up leg muscles.
I ski in the wintertime twice a week, and during the summer after going to the barn I do swimming and swim 12 laps of front crawl, then relax, go home, and do it all the next day!
All those are just things I took up to keep myself fit for the saddle... I probably spend 10 hours a day at the barn!
?
Hi, Lucky66
I had a Belgian named Lucky. Full name was Lucky Strike.
I am looking at Julie's answer, and yes, that is about it. Julie sounds like an Amazon from that write-up.
I'm over 60, and I'm in top shape. I have kept horses most of my life, and I don't do anything special. The barn chores, the equipment and the riding, keep me going. I put 150 bales of hay in the barn loft yesterday, another 150 today, and I'm going for another 150 bales tomorrow. I spent part of the week working in the bush, cutting firewood, and I need to go around the trails and clean them up.
I go down to the mall once a week, (my day off) and I look at some of the people wandering around down there, and I wonder how they can get into such poor shape.
If you are doing the chores and working with your horses and doing the things you need to do, you probably do not need more exercise. Your horses will take care of that.
I might invite Julie to help me with the hay tomorrow, but I suspect she has her own hay to deal with. So do most of the other people who have horses.
Good luck with your Pilates.
Henry
Hannah
haha. great question. this is something I struggled with when I first started riding. I do H/J. I stay in shape by riding whenever I can. ANd I make sure that when I ride I do extensive warmups with a lot of cantering and trotting and no stirrup work. I also run track and crosss country at my high school and that is one of the best, healthiest, even fun workouts you can get, aside from riding of course. I find that when i am running on a regular basis I can easily canter in two point for 20 minutes without sweating a bit.
So if you are looking to stay in shape for riding, here is my recommendation for workout
Run 4 days a week, at a steady, comfortable pace.
2 of those days run for 20 minutes
and 2 ofthose days run for 30 minutes.
That should get you the basic workout.
Remember, if you don't run often it will take a few weeks to get your body in a condition where running is easy. But if you stick with it and push through the painful parts, it becomes very easy and very very helpful in your riding!
I hope I helped! Best of luck with your riding!
?
I do hunters, sometimes jumpers. I generally ride 4x a week, usually 2-3 horses a day.
I don't do ANY exercise other than general barn chores. Bear in mind, that involves lifting 100 pound haybales, mucking stalls, hauling 50 lbs of sawdust to and from stalls (from around 500 feet away), lifting huge saddles (english and western) above my head, and all sorts of other heavy lifting... if I "worked out" anymore I'd probably die, lol!